HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



187 



it produced those consequences 

 which Europe had a right to expect 

 from it, would have materially al- 

 tered the face of things, and most 

 probably have determined the war 

 to a far different issue than that we 

 have witnessed. We have already 

 alluded to the direct violation of the 

 Prussian neutrality by a French 

 corps, which marched through the 

 Prussian territory of Anspach from 

 Wurtzburgh to the Danube. This 

 step, the possibility of which was 

 quite out of the calculation of the 

 Austrian commander in chief, who 

 conceiving that the force in question 

 was destined for Bohemia, took his 

 measures accordingly. Nor in- 

 deed was it to be supposed that, at 

 such a juncture, Bonaparte would 

 run the risk of provoking the king 

 of Prussia to hostilities, by an in- 

 sult so pointed and glaring, as the 

 infraction of one of the first laws of 

 neutrality. This portion of coun- 

 try, however, which had devolved 

 to the Prussian crown, by the act of 

 (he last Margrave, was interposed 

 between Wurtzburgh and the Da- 

 nube, whither it was or the utmost 

 consequencjf, to the success of his 

 plans, that the corps, assembled at 

 the former place, should proceed 

 the shortest way, and ii; the least 

 possible time. Bonaparte, with 

 that decision which marks his cha- 

 racter, without the smallest hesita- 

 tion, ordered the march of his ar- 

 my, which, after some slight shew 

 of opposition from the Prussian 

 major Howen, at the head of 500 

 men, passed through the territory 

 of Anspach, without further moles- 

 tation ! 



The surprise and indignation of 

 all ranks of people throughout the 

 Prussian dominions, at this bold 

 And unprecedented stepj was ex.. 



treme, and vengeance for the insult 

 was demanded from every quarter. 

 The hopes of the allies were reviv- 

 ed, and fresh solicitations were 

 poured in upon the king, to de- 

 clare himself a party in the war, and 

 thus avenge himself for so gross an 

 injury. The British government 

 lost no time in dispatching Lord 

 Harrowby to the court of Berlin, 

 on a special mission, to negociate a 

 treaty, and offer subsidies in case of 

 co-operation. And even the govern- 

 ment of Prussia itself seemed rouzed 

 by this flagrant breach of public- 

 law, to some sense of its dignitj 

 and its wrongs. Immediate pre- 

 parations were made for hostilities, 

 the garrisons of Berlin and Pofzdam 

 were ordered to hold themselves in 

 readiness to take the field, and the 

 regular troops were ordered to the 

 frontiers. Cut all this shew and 

 heat of preparation evaporated in 

 empty boasting. Before any de- 

 cision was taken, the capture of 

 Ulm, and the total discomfiture of 

 general Mack's .army, disposed the 

 Prussian councils to pass over the 

 affront received, and count Haug- 

 Avitz, the well known favourer of 

 the French party, upon every occa- 

 sion, was dispatched to treat with 

 Bonaparte at the head-quarters of 

 the latter. An accommodation spee- 

 dily took place, and thus was lostaa 

 opportunity, never to be retrieved, 

 for Prussia to sustain her own 

 national honour, and possibly have 

 rescued Europe from the grasp of 

 France, and from all the train ofe- 

 vils, consequent on the battle of Aus- 

 terlitz. 



The preponderating inflne«cc 

 which Prussia had maintained for 

 many years in the north of Ger- 

 many, continued in the present in- 

 stducc to inllucucc the conduct of 



the 



